Portland, Ore. ? An American lawyer who was falsely accused by the FBI of involvement in the Madrid terrorist bombings has hired one of the nation’s most successful and colorful attorneys to represent him in a lawsuit against the U.S. government.

Brandon Mayfield, who received a rare apology from the FBI after his release from two weeks of detention, has hired Gerry Spence, a celebrity attorney known as much for his success in the courtroom as for his buckskin jackets.

Spence told The Associated Press that he intended to file a lawsuit in federal court on Mayfield’s behalf on charges that would be disclosed at a later time.

“We will be representing Brandon. But we don’t want to say any more because we don’t want to be in a position where we are criticized for trying our case in the media. We want to try it in court where it belongs,” Spence said in a telephone interview from his office in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Spence has won all his criminal cases and has not lost a civil lawsuit since 1969. His successes include victories for former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos, white supremacist Randy Weaver and plutonium factory worker Karen Silkwood.

Mayfield’s hiring of Spence marks the beginning of the Portland man’s legal fight against the FBI.

Mayfield, a Kansas native, was taken away from his Portland law office by FBI agents on May 6 after his fingerprint was incorrectly matched to ones found on a bag of detonators near a Madrid train station. The March 11 train bombings in Spain killed 191 people and injured about 2,000.

FBI agents seized Mayfield’s computers, modem, safe deposit key, assorted papers, as well as copies of the Quran and “Spanish documents” — later determined to be his son’s Spanish homework.

“It was humiliating,” said Mayfield, soon after his release. “This whole process has been a harrowing ordeal. It shouldn’t happen to anybody.”

While Mayfield was being detained, U.S. officials insisted the fingerprints on the bag matched those of the Portland attorney — even though Spanish officials disagreed.

Brandon Mayfield walks with his daughter, Sharia Mayfield, 12, left, and his son, Famir Mayfield, 10, outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., in this May file photo. Mayfield, who attended Washburn Universty in Topeka, had been arrested two weeks earlier in connection with the Madrid terror attacks. The FBI later apologized to him for the unwarranted arrest. Now, he's hired celebrity lawyer Gerry Spence to sue the government.

Finally, the FBI conceded it had made a mistake and apologized to Mayfield.

Officials with the agency said they had been given a “substandard” photograph of the Madrid fingerprint, an account disputed by Allan Bayle, a fingerprint expert hired by federal public defenders representing Mayfield.

Court records show that retired FBI agent John Massey, who worked on the Madrid case, was reprimanded three times for errors between 1969 and 1974, including twice for false fingerprint identifications, The Seattle Times reported in June.

FBI officials have promised an independent investigation into the misidentification of the lawyer.

Kent Mayfield, the Portland attorney’s brother, said the lawsuit was overdue.

“It’s horrifying to think that such a huge international mistake could be made,” said the younger Mayfield of Halstead, Kan.

He argued that in spite of the FBI’s acknowledgment of its error, some still believe his brother did something wrong.

“There’s still people out there who think that when there’s smoke there’s fire,” he said.